Which Glee Star Had Never Heard of Nicki Minaj?

Given all the contemporary pop hits that the cast of Glee is required to sing, you’d think they would all be on the cutting edge of the latest music trends. Not so, as one of the show’s stars is now admitting to not having known who Nicki Minaj is. Word of advice: You probably shouldn’t tell Nicki about this.

One of the definite musical highlights of Glee Season 4 was watching Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch) rock that glow-in-the-dark wig and spit some serious game during her performance of Nicki’s “Super Bass.” But what now makes the performance even more impressive is the fact that, not only had Jane not heard the song before, but she didn’t even know who Nicki was!

Jane is asked by Give Me My Remote if she knows which songs she might sing in the near future, and she says the show always surprises her. “I would have never [guessed I’d be singing Nicki Minaj],” Jane admits. “First of all, I kind of didn’t know who she was.” Say what?

“Second of all, I didn’t know the song at all,” Jane adds. “All the kids of course knew it, so I had to, like, learn it like I was learning a new language. But now I love it — I think she’s awesome.” Nice save at the end there, Jane.

Frankly, we find it a little hard to believe that Jane had never heard of Nicki, considering Nicki was an American Idol judge last season, and also considering that Glee had actually performed a Nicki song before, when Unique sang “Starships” in Season 3. But we’ll try not to judge Jane too harshly for not keeping up.

So what song would you like to see Jane tackle in Season 5? Either way, she’ll have a tough time topping this performance. Here’s what we thought of it, to paraphrase the song itself: My, my, my, my, it was like pelican fly. And we’re pretty sure that’s a compliment.